The hotly-anticipated “Saved by the Bell” reboot is moving forward with Josie Totah as its star.
Totah will play Lexi, described in press notes as “a beautiful, sharp-tongued cheerleader and the most popular girl at Bayside High” who is both “admired and feared” by her classmates. The Hollywood Reporter first reported the news early Monday.
Mario Lopez and Elizabeth Berkley, who starred in the original incarnation of “Saved by the Bell” from 1989 to 1993, will reprise their roles as A.C. Slater and Jessie Spano respectively in the revival. The new series will explore what happens when California Gov. Zack Morris (played by Mark-Paul Gosselaar in the original) closes many of the state’s low-income high schools and reassigns affected students to higher-performing schools, including Bayside High.
The show will air on Peacock, NBCUniversal’s new streaming service, though a release date has yet to be revealed.
News of Totah’s casting comes nearly two afters after the 18-year-old, whose credits include NBC’s “Champions” and the Disney Channel’s “Jessie,” came out as transgender.
Totah, most recently seen on Netflix’s “No Good Nick,” opened up about her gender identity for the first time publicly in a 2018 Time magazine essay.
“In the past, I’ve halfway corrected people by telling them I identify as LGBTQ,” she wrote. “I wasn’t ready to be more specific ... I have come to believe that God made me transgender. I don’t feel like I was put in the wrong body. I don’t feel like there was a mistake made.”
“I believe that I am transgender to help people understand differences,” she added. “It allows me to gain perspective, to be more accepting of others, because I know what it feels like to know you’re not like everyone else.”